Lace Midi Skirt

Have you ever traveled to an event, packed one outfit, and then felt totally demoralized because you don't look anything like what you envisioned?  

Guilty!  

After the wedding

And of course the wardrobe blahs are all the more poignant when you have spent every extra moment of the last five days finishing the damn thing, including three hours of hand stitching on the plane!  

When my college friend Julia asked me to be a bridesmaid in her Seattle wedding, I was relieved that the only restriction was that I wear purple. I picked up a beautiful synthetic lace from Chic Fabrics several months ago and planned to make a midi skirt with a black silk camisole (RTW).

I have been working on self-drafted skirts the past few months (blog post to come soon), so decided to draft my own midi skirt. A Challenging Sew's five paneled midi-skirts served as primary inspiration for this project. I like mid-skirts and it's a flattering fit for my pear shape.

With only two yards of lace on hand, I drafted a three panel skirt.

Muslin

Although the muslin fit properly, I knew that the base layer of black silk charmeuse and organza was prone to stretching because of the bias panels.  To mitigate distortion, I cut the center back on the straight of grain, stay stitched immediately, and hung the pieces for several days to allow the bias to grow out. I attached 1inch strips of organza on the straight grain to the zipper opening for additional reinforcement.

Organza to stabilize zipper

Organza pockets strengthened by cutting each piece out on the cross grain and straight grain

In spite of my best efforts, when I tried the skirt on it had stretched on the bias and no longer fit at the waist. I added two rather large darts in the back of the skirt.

I finished the waistband with a petersham ribbon using a similar method to Goodbye Valentino here.  Instead of under stitching and trimming, I placed the petersham on the right side of the fabric, above the skirt's waistband finishing line.  I sewed it down and then flipped it to the inside where I used a fell stitch to attach the bottom of the petersham.  

Close up of the lace

I wore the skirt again for dinner the other night to celebrate our third wedding anniversary at Le CouCou.  This time I paired it with a different black top (a refashioned nightgown!), a belt and some suede wedges.  Much preferred the skirt with this outfit than at the wedding. Though I'm not thrilled with the addition of the belt...

Dressed up for Anniversary Dinner 

About Le Coucou:  I had been following the chef, Daniel Rose, since the launch of Spring in Paris many years ago.  Rose's food is decidedly modern with some very strong nods to the 50s/60s cult classics that I associate with Julia Child or Paul Bocuse: Omelette Norvegienne, Quenelles de Brochette with lobster bisque.  But we also dined on some thoroughly modern fare, my favorite being the eel fried in rye flour with a mango curry sauce.  The atmosphere, service, wine, vibe...all excellent.  The chef came over to our table and chatted with us for 10+ minutes and I geeked out over my favorite French nostalgia dish, "coulibiac," which he recently prepared for a private party but does not plan to add to the menu.  A few days before our reservation, Le CouCou won the James Beard Award for best new restaurant (US).  Probably little chance of snagging a reservation again...

Asaka Kimono in Paradise

I recently returned from an epic vacation to Vietnam including four tropical nights in the Gulf of Thailand.   Phu Quoc Island is known for its white sand beaches, crystal blue waters, and red dirt roads roaming with cattle and wild ridgeback dogs.  Freedomland -- our aptly named jungle resort -- was a little piece of heaven!  

Sunset on Ong Lang Beach

What better occasion to sew a special garment than Freedomland's famous communal dinners in the jungle!

Yes, I took this picture!  Amazing 4 course dinners every night at Freedomland.

I decided to go big and bold with the Asaka Kimono by Named Pattern Company.  There was no turning back when I saw Closet Case Files' beautiful cotton version!

I am pretty happy with how mine turned out!

In our thatch room bungalow at Freedomland

The silk charmeuse is from Chic Fabrics.  Chic has a great selection of colorful prints at $15/yard.  Highly recommend when in the NYC Garment District.

Cutting this out was challenging.  With previous silk projects I laboriously hand basted the fabric to medical paper to ensure a precise cut.  At Sonja's suggestion, I tried the new-to-me method of laying the silk out in a single layer on muslin before cutting.  Presto!  The muslin adhered to the silk and the cut pieces were more or less precise. Because of the slippery fabric, I sewed with a microtex needle and my walking foot.

The slits at the juncture of the open sleeves were a little bit tricky to hem because they met at a french seam, but I figured it out by clipping at the juncture of the french seam and slit.

In lieu of the iron-on interfacing recommended by the pattern, I used silk organza to interface the collar.  Next time I will try self-fabric for the collar interfacing.  I chose not to interface the belt.

                                           


                                  

The sleeves are set in the round and I had to run some gathering stitches to get the sleeve to fit into the shoulder. This probably wasn't the fault of the pattern drafting.  I think the fabric probably stretched since I forgot to staystitch the curves.

Since indie patterns are more expensive than the Big 4, I had higher expectations of the overall experience. This pattern should have been drafted for french seams. Period.  The seam allowance was only 3/8",   so I took the extra time to add 1/4"  so that I could make french seams. Also,  the instructions  were quite minimal and the cutting layout was only for 60".  I had a scant 4 yards of 45" fabric and spent a head scratching hour maneuvering the 14 individual pattern pieces into a workable layout for 45".

I do wish that I could get the hem to fall evenly and keep the skirt from riding up in every which direction and clinging.  I have a hunch that a lot of these problems would be solved if I used a cotton.
 

Pesky imperfections aside, this make was a real confidence builder.  Working at a steady rhythm, I completed the garment over about 6 days.  Each day I had a new goal and for the most part I accomplished everything on the day that I set out to do it. Maybe my good sewing juju has finally arrived?